Down With Love
by Lady Karai
Summary: On semi-hiatus until I get some new ideas. Sequel to "Dance with Me". Roxas has arrived at college to find romance literally everywhere he turns, and somehow he always ends up playing matchmaker. Cupid has never been so unwilling or so downright grumpy.
1. See You In September

**Down with Love**

**Description**: Sequel to "Dance with Me". Roxas has arrived at college to find romance literally everywhere he turns, and somehow he always ends up playing matchmaker. Cupid has never been so unwilling or so downright grumpy. AU, _Amazing Grace_ crossover.

**Disclaimer**: Kingdom Hearts and all the Final Fantasy games belong to Square-Enix. _Amazing Grace_ and its characters belong to me.

**Warnings:** Language, boyxboy love ... and that's about it. This one isn't going to be as heavy as the original.

A/N: This story is a sequel to DWM. If you haven't read that one, you may be a little confused here and there, but this fic mostly stands on its own. I should warn everyone that this story will not have my usual pairings when it comes to the Organization guys. In fact, most of them are going to be straight (and some with girlfriends). Hopefully that won't deter too many of you from reading it. I think I'll be keeping the chapters short and sweet to promote more frequent updates.

Enjoy!

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**1. See you in September**  
The Happenings

I, Roxas Skyhawke, have this to say about the emotion known as love:

Screw it.

No, better yet, tie it up, gag it, throw it on the ground, and back over it with your car a few times. Then douse it in steak sauce and throw it in the shark tank at the aquarium. And if that doesn't work, dress it up like a sea-salt ice cream bar, drop it off in front of Hayner's house, and run the hell away.

Now, I enjoy making out with a good-looking girl as much as the next hormonally-saturated teen, but the whole concept that you _have_ to have a boy/girlfriend at all times or your life means _nothing_, well, that's just stupid. I mean, get some self-esteem, people. A person's worth is not measured by the hotness of the person he or she is sucking face with. And it is in fact possible for a normal soon-to-be college freshman, like myself, to be happy and content with life as a whole without having a significant other attached to my hip like some accessory.

If I could only convince my older brother of this.

Of course, that's a losing battle considering how ga-ga in love he currently is with his boyfriend. All I can say is he's lucky Riku is so nice, or I would have killed them both by now. I'm happy for Sora, really I am, and I love him with all my heart. But oh dear _God_, if I have to listen to that "But I just want you to be as happy as I am" speech of his one more time … .

He smothered me with it all summer, going on and on about this girl Naminé and how pretty and nice and sweet she is. Based on the ten minutes I spent talking with her last year, I would be prepared to say that she is indeed all of these things, but come _on_. I'm supposed to fall madly in love with someone in ten minutes? I don't think so.

Usually after one of these arguments with Sora, I'd retreat to my room and write a long, venting email to Max. Max is Riku's roommate. Well, ex-roommate now since they're both juniors and have single rooms. How I got to be such good friends with my brother's boyfriend's former roommate is a story in itself. Guess I'll explain.

It all started when I decided to visit Sora at Swarthmore, partly to see my brother and partly as a prospective student since I had also been accepted. I happened to visit on Valentine's Day. I didn't have a girlfriend at the time, so I hadn't really paid much attention to the date. Thankfully, Riku and Sora hadn't made a huge deal of it either, and I had been enjoying hanging out with them and their group of friends.

Then we went to dinner. I knew something was up the moment a group of about fifteen people walked into the room together. They were all wearing old-fashioned clothes. Like 1920s. They sat down at a table, and two students wearing waiter outfits began fetching food for them.

Confused, I turned to Sora for an explanation, but his expression told me he had no idea what was going on either. It was clear to me that the upperclassmen did, though. Riku was trying hard not to snigger, and Riku's friend Christian had a big grin on his face. Sora and his roommate Justin both questioned the other two, but neither of them would say anything. "Just wait," Riku advised us, a smirk pulling up the corner of his mouth.

So we did. Twenty minutes passed and nothing happened. I had completely lost interest by then and was talking to Justin about the quality of the chemistry department. Sora had just begged us to stop and talk about something normal - to Sora, nothing that uses numbers is normal - when the back door to the cafeteria flew open with a crash. Dozens of heads flew up, including mine, as three guys in trenchcoats stomped into the room and right up to the table of strangely-dressed people. The one in the lead, a tall guy with blazing red hair that seemed to stick out from his head like spikes, carried a box that could have held long-stemmed roses. The other two kept their hands inside their coats.

The red-head took a moment to let his eyes drift over the people at the table, several of whom had risen to their feet. Then, he said in a loud, clear voice, "Got a message from Big Al. _Die, you gravy-sucking pigs!_"

The box fell to the floor, revealing a huge gun, and two others appeared from inside the trenchcoats. All three guns erupted into life, and the room filled with screams as the diners fell, their clothes splattered with blood. Once the last body had landed on the ground with a dull thud, the red-head lowered his gun and took a few steps to the table. He picked up a plum from someone's tray and, looking down, nudged the owner of the food with his foot.

"Got it memorized?" he asked lightly and took a bite. Behind him, one of the others, a blond with a mustache, laughed quietly.

I just sat there and gaped. I couldn't believe I had just witnessed a mass murder in a college cafeteria. Sora couldn't believe it either; he was clinging to Riku and whispering, "… _ohmygodohmygodohmygod_ …" over and over. And then, to further add to my confusion, the entire cafeteria burst into applause. The three murderers casually walked back out the door, the blond waving and winking to a nearby girl who giggled at the attention, and everyone went back to eating.

"That was much better than last year," I heard Christian comment. "How did they get the blood to be so realistic?"

"Max," Riku answered him as he pried Sora off of his arm. "Xemnas asked him to help create some liquid capsules that could be easily broken and that would spray like real blood."

"Well he did a fantastic job. And they got better guns this year, too, I noticed."

Slowly, painfully, oxygen returned to my lungs. It had been fake. Staged. I swung my attention back to the bodies on the floor and saw several chests rising and falling. One "corpse" even shifted his position slightly as I watched.

"So what was the point?" Justin asked the two upperclassmen. He had obviously come to the same conclusions I had; Sora still looked freaked out. "Dinner theater or something?"

Christian shook his head. "Not quite. It's a reenactment of the Valentine's Day Massacre. You know, Al Capone. They do it every year."

"Who does?"

"The science-fiction club."

My brother finally let go of Riku. "Oh them," he commented as if that explained everything. "They scare me."

His boyfriend laughed and ruffled his hair a little. "They scare a lot of people," he replied, "but they're generally a decent bunch. A little odd maybe, but not too bad."

"Who's Max?" I asked. Now that my mind had cleared of shock, I had begun to wonder about the realistic blood spray I had seen and consider how I might have approached a similar problem.

"My roommate," Riku answered me. "He's a genius and a half. Bio-chem major."

I perked up immediately. Sora saw my expression and groaned.

"Can I meet him?"

"Sure, I don't see why not."

"I do," Sora griped, sending me a disapproving look. "Once the two of them start talking, we'll never be able to pry them apart. You can be nerdy all you like next year," he stated, emphasizing his point with a fork. "Right now, I'd like it if you could spend some time with me please."

"If I come here next year," I reminded him with a smirk. "I still haven't decided."

"Even more reason to hang out with me and have fun instead of being your usual geeky self."

"Come on, Sora," Riku interjected in my defense. "I'm sure it won't be that bad."

"You don't know Roxas like I do," my brother grumbled, stabbing at his food grouchily.

Sora continued to argue and protest through the entire meal, but Riku and I won out in the end and I got to meet Max.

It was _awesome!_

Like Sora said, I'm a geek and a nerd and I'm proud of it. If I can pipette it, dissect it, or stick it under a microscope, I love it. But that day I learned that, compared to Max, I'm just a weak amateur, not only in regards to knowledge and experience but also in pure drive and passion. After spending an hour with him, I felt like I knew nothing, and I damn near ached with the need to know more.

Max is a pretty unassuming guy when you first meet him. He's a mix of Korean and American Indian, so his coloring is dark and his face is a little oddly-shaped. When Riku and I entered their shared room, he was studying at his desk and didn't bother to look up until Riku addressed him. The gaze he gave us was completely blank as if there wasn't a shred of emotion in him at all.

"Max, this is Sora's little brother Roxas," Riku introduced me. He was clearly used to the empty stare that was boring into him. "He's a spec. Wants to be a chem major."

That put a little life into those dark eyes. Max sat up straighter and gave me a small smile. "I see," he said. "Do you have any questions you'd like me to answer?"

He meant about the school, of course. The classes and the professors. But I chose to take it to mean _any_ questions.

"What did you use to make those exploding blood capsules?" I asked eagerly. "I have an idea of what you might have done for the liquid itself as well as the explosive agent, but I'm having trouble figuring out how you made the capsules strong enough to not rupture prematurely but weak enough that they'd rupture at all."

Max blinked at me for half a second, surprised. And then, he broke out into a grin, and I got to see his true self for the first time. I've found out since that he's pretty shy and rather self-conscious about his high level of intelligence. Around most people, like Riku and Christian and even around J'nel who's a fellow bio major, he tends to be quiet and closed off. But with me, he opened up and let it all come pouring out, and I sat there in utter awe and soaked in as much as I possibly could. Most of what he said went straight over my head, but the little that I did understand blew me away.

By the time Sora showed up and demanded that I spend some time with him, I had made my decision. I would be coming to this school next year. Not for the academics or the professors, although both were top-notch. No, I'd be coming here because Max was here and because I wanted nothing more than to study in the same place where he was. When I told him of my decision - leaving out the star-struck reasoning of course - he smiled at me and asked for my email address so we could keep in touch over the summer. I swear I felt like some giddy teenager who had just been offered an autograph by her favorite movie star.

I'm such a dork.

The rest of my senior year was agony. I just wanted to be out of there already and on to the next stage in my life. It was so tempting to let myself become a victim of senioritis like my best friend Hayner. I kept my grades up, though, and not because of Olette's constant lectures on maintaining our work ethics even though our colleges had already accepted us. It was because I didn't want to have to tell Max, should he ask, that I had gotten lazy at the end of the year and let it all slide. I wanted to make sure that he kept his good opinion of me since that way I would be more likely to be allowed to work with him on his various projects. That was the same reason why, unless I was ranting about Sora and his persistent need to set me up with Naminé before the semester even _started_, I composed my emails to him with as much care as I would a written assignment for school. I wanted every word to be _perfect_ before I sent it over to him.

Sora teased me like hell when he found out, of course. In fact, more than once he referred to my obsession with the soon-to-be-junior as a crush and threatened to tell Riku that I was lusting after his roommate. I usually responded by pounding on him or stealing his food. My feelings for Max were not romantic or sexual in the slightest. It was hero-worship more than anything else. There was just so much that I could _learn_ from him, not only about science but about how to think, how to approach problems with fresh perspectives and new ideas. Whenever I talked to him, I felt like a wet-behind-the-ears kid kneeling before the wise and all-powerful master. Take the pebble from my hand, Grasshopper; that kind of thing. He filled me with so much intellectual awe.

Did I mention that I'm a dork? Yeah, I think I did.

Eventually, after what felt like three or four eternities, the school year ended, I took my finals, and I graduated. Summer wasn't as bad since I spent most of it hanging out with the gang. Hayner was determined to make as many memories as humanly possible before we all went our separate ways, and I had absolutely no objections. In fact, summer almost went too fast, for before I knew it, I was packing up my things and listening to my parents worry about how they were going to get both my and Sora's stuff over to campus without renting a U-Haul. Sora was fluttering about, all excited to see Riku again, and I was definitely _not_ fluttering but still excited to finally get my freshman year started.

There was only one thing worrying me as we pulled away from the house and began our trip, and that was that Sora would soon be doubling his efforts to get me to go out with Naminé. If I was lucky, we'd get there and find out that she had objections to the match-up, too. Even Sora wouldn't try to put together two people who had no interest in the other. If she didn't, though, or worse if she actually liked me, these first few weeks could be harder than they normally would be. And all because my brother wanted me to be as lovey-dovey as he was.

I sighed and gazed out the window at the passing scenery. I've always felt that love is overrated. It's nice, but it's not necessary to live a fulfilling life. It's not important enough to throw yourself under the bus for or to beat yourself up over if you've lost it. I guess, when it comes to love, if it comes to me I'll give it a try. But I'm not going to go looking for it and I'm not going to let others look for it for me. If that's the way it's going to be, then I'd rather just say screw it.

And that's really all I have to say.


	2. Love Child

**Down with Love**

**Description**: Sequel to "Dance with Me". Roxas has arrived at college to find romance literally everywhere he turns, and somehow he always ends up playing matchmaker. Cupid has never been so unwilling or so downright grumpy. AU, _Amazing Grace_ crossover.

**Disclaimer**: Kingdom Hearts and all the Final Fantasy games belong to Square-Enix. _Amazing Grace_ and its characters belong to me.

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**2. Love Child**  
The Supremes

We ended up unloading Sora first. He and Justin had paired up together again this year and had gotten a room on the second floor of a dorm called Wharton. The nice thing about stopping at Sora's room first was that Riku was there to help him cart his stuff, and once we were done with Sora, it didn't take much begging on my part to get him to agree to come over and help me with mine as well. So we all piled into the car - much easier to do with half of the stuff gone - and drove all the way around the campus to my dorm, Mertz, which was on the other side.

Initially, I wasn't too happy with my new living arrangements. The dorm was dark and felt claustrophobic. The entire place was carpeted which wouldn't be bad if the carpet was fairly new-looking, but it wasn't. It looked old and worn and smashed down by hundreds of student feet over the last few decades. The ceilings were kind of low and the halls kind of narrow, and I couldn't help feeling I had been tricked somehow. Sora's and Riku's dorms last year had been far more spacious, and even Sora's dorm this year was better than this.

"Think of it this way," Riku encouraged when he saw my unhappy face. "It could be Willets."

"What's Willets?" I asked.

"Freshmen dorm," he answered with a grimace. "The walls are bare and the floors are tile to make it easier to clean up the beer and other … things." He hefted a suitcase strap over his arm and started up the central staircase. "Third floor, right?"

"Yeah."

When I reached my room, I discovered that my roommate had already arrived but was not there at the moment. He had apparently chosen the bed closer to the door and farther from the window, but his stuff was still packed, all in a neat pile of boxes. I stared at it for a moment, wondering where he was, before shrugging and claiming the other bed for myself. With me, Sora, Riku, and my parents working together, we had everything out of the car and up the stairs in about twenty minutes. I let my parents fuss over me for a few more minutes, but I soon kicked them out. There was an orientation later for parents of freshmen, but we had all been to it last year with Sora. As far as I was concerned, I had already done all of this and was ready for them to just leave.

Once they had, I started to unpack. Riku actually started to help me although I shooed him away from my clothes and had him set up my computer instead. Sora just flopped back on my bed like the lump he is.

"Do you have any thick boots?" my brother's boyfriend asked me when he saw me putting shoes in the closet. "If not, you're going to need them."

"Why?"

He hooked his thumb in the direction of the lone window which looked out onto the large grassy area the students called "the beach". "Sharples is directly across from here. The quickest way to get to it is across the beach, but when it's even slightly damp, the whole area turns into one large marsh. Your choices are to walk around, which takes forever, or walk through it. This is why I suggest the boots. Otherwise, you're likely to ruin several pairs of shoes by the end of the year."

"You talk like you've had experience."

"I have," he half-grinned. "I lived on the second floor my freshman year. Destroyed three pairs of shoes before I got smart."

"And now you live in ML," Sora complained from the bed, "so you're still ruining shoes. It's just now it's because you have to walk so damn far to get to campus."

The silver-haired junior frowned and grabbed a shoe out of my hand to chuck at my brother. "It's not that far!" he declared. "You're just lazy and out of shape."

"I am not out of shape!" Sora protested, sitting up. He looked around a bit to see where the shoe had gone and, not finding it, threw my pillow instead.

Riku caught it easily. "So you're not going to deny the lazy part?" he asked, smirking.

"Shut up!"

I sighed with irritation and took a breath in preparation to tell them to knock it off or get out of my room and have their little lovers' spat somewhere else. But someone beat me to it, clearing his throat from the doorway of the room. Taken off guard, I twisted around from my seating position on the floor to find a strange guy just inside the door. At the sight of him, my jaw unhinged a little and I think my eyes bulged.

He was an N'Darie. Green hair, pointed ears, slanted eyes, everything. I had seen plenty of them on TV, but seeing one in person was an extremely rare occurrence for anyone not involved in interstellar politics. The only other one I had ever met was Riku's friend J'nel, and he had been practically human, wearing jeans and a sweater with his hair pulled back and laughing like he didn't care a bit about cultural stoicism. This N'Darie looked the part, gazing at us with a politely blank expression, his long hair reaching half-way down his back with a few locks pulled in front of his ears and falling down his chest. He was even wearing N'Darie casual clothes, just a tan tunic and pants with a deep blue sash tied around the waist that was embroidered at the end with what I assumed was his family crest. I know that gaping at him like a fish was probably rude, but I'm sure anyone would forgive me for it. He just looked so _unreal_.

"Excuse me," he said when he noticed we are all staring at him, "but can I assume that one of you is my roommate?"

I scrambled to my feet, even more shocked now. I was going to be _rooming_ with an _N'Darie_? "Yeah, I am," I told him, somehow recovering enough to be able to speak. I took a few steps toward him and held out my hand. "I'm Roxas. Nice to meet you."

Smiling just slightly, he stepped forward as well and took my hand with his. "Nice to meet you as well, Roxas. I am K'nsolear." After dropping my hand, he turned back towards the door and motioned to a person standing there whom I had not previously noticed. "This is Vindeflei, my cousin."

A pretty, dark-haired girl stepped into the room. She also wore N'Darie casuals, and her long hair was tied back loosely at the nape of her neck. She gave me a smile that was slightly larger than her cousin's as she said, "Nice to meet you."

I nodded my greeting back to her and turned to do my own introductions. "My brother Sora and his boyfr-" My voice stopped dead at the sight of Riku's face. He was staring at K'nsolear with wide, disbelieving eyes, his mouth hanging open. While I have to admit that I had felt similarly shocked at first, there had been plenty of time to recover and get back some semblance of functionality. But Riku was still completely out of it, staring as if his brain had shut down. "Riku!" I cried, snapping my fingers in front of his face to get him to blink. "What the hell? Sora, wake your boyfriend up."

My brother slipped off of the bed and grabbed Riku's arm, shaking him a little. "Riku," he half-whined, "what's the matter? You shouldn't stare. It's not polite."

Finally, Riku came back to earth enough to shut his mouth and lower his eyes. "I'm sorry," he whispered. Then, louder: "I'm really sorry. I …" His eyes lifted again and fixed once more on my new roommate who was looking away, something close to resignation on his face. "I've just never seen one of you before. I didn't even know you existed."

Sora and I gaped at him, completely not understanding. Since Riku was Sora's responsibility, though, I let him do the honors of posing the all-important question.

"Riku, what are you talking about? One of your best friends is an N'Darie. How can you say something so rude?"

"But he's not an N'Darie," Riku insisted, gazing down into Sora's face. "Take a closer look. His ears are too short, the eyes aren't slanted enough, the hair is the wrong color green." Lifting his head again, he rested his eyes on K'nsolear's half-turned face and stated, "You're part-human."

The obviousness of this revelation hit me like a freight train. Riku was absolutely right that all of my roommate's traditional N'Darie features were toned down or muted. And if that hadn't tipped me off, I should have known the moment he introduced his cousin, a human girl, that his ancestry wasn't pure. As shocked as I was at my own stupidity and obliviousness, what shocked me far, _far_ more were the implications of this discovery. The N'Darie were strict to the point of fanaticism about keeping their bloodlines pure. Crossbreeding was punishable by banishment if you were lucky; more often than not, it meant death.

In the wake of Riku's pronouncement, K'nsolear's face remained expressionless, but I could tell from his eyes that he was becoming steadily more and more upset. My fears were confirmed when he suddenly turned away as if to leave, but Vindeflei quickly put out a hand and stopped him merely by touching him on the shoulder.

"We both are," she replied to Riku's statement. "K'nsolear is half-human, and I am three-quarters." That sent another round of shock through us all, but she stopped it quickly by smiling and continuing, "If you wish to know our family's history, I am sure one of us would be willing to tell you at a later time. For right now, though, it would be best to unpack and settle in." She shifted her calm gaze to look at her cousin and added in the N'Darie tongue, "Shye?"

He refused to meet her eyes. Under his breath, he muttered, "A vel zetai en fan te fatash n'dahn lesoin."

"K'nsolear," Vindeflei replied in a tone that was clearly a reprimand, "ye re vacha furae."

He spun on his heel to glare at her, the anger in his green eyes spilling out into the rest of his face. "Ver set furae phfaren!" he all but growled at her. Clearly, we had insulted him, and, considering the way Riku had gawked at him, I didn't blame him for being pissed at us.

I was just about to try to defuse the situation - I did have to live with this guy after all - but then Riku stepped forward, pushing past me and coming directly up to K'nsolear. To everyone's surprise, including my new roommate's, the junior bowed low to the younger man, one hand resting on the opposite shoulder.

"A me s'tela," Riku said softly, stunning both Sora and me at the foreign words coming out of his mouth. "Z'cha, fachesa ma."

For a beat, no one moved. Riku remained there, bent ninety degrees at the waist like some Japanese vassal, and K'nsolear just looked at him, stunned. My new roommate's mask had cracked, and I watched as confusion and uncertainty swam through his eyes. He seemed paralyzed, torn between remaining angry and giving in to the obvious repentance that stood before him, wearing the formal form of his own culture. Then, Vindeflei elbowed him gently in the side, waking him up and spurring him into action.

"A …" he said hesitatingly. "A fachesa ye."

"Tesa ye," Riku replied. Straightening, he offered them both a small smile. "And that's pretty much the extent of my L'Guan," he admitted. "I only started learning this past summer."

"Your accent is quite good," Vindeflei complimented him as K'nsolear turned away again, although this time more in shyness than in anger.

"Thanks," Riku beamed at her. Then, leaning a bit to the side to try to catch the other man's eye, he added, "I really am sorry. You must get reactions like that wherever you go."

The corner of K'nsolear's mouth quirked upwards, and his eyes slid sideways to glance at Riku. "Yes," is all he said.

"Well, I apologize again for being such a jerk." He held out his hand. "I'm Riku, Roxas's brother's boyfriend." K'nsolear hesitated but eventually reached out to accept the handshake. "That's Sora, the brother," Riku continued once he had, using his free hand to indicate over his shoulder. "You probably won't see that much of us after today. Sora and Roxas are fond of each other, but they also tend to get on each other's nerves pretty easily."

I crossed my arms over my chest and snorted at that. Truer words had never been spoken. Sora didn't seem inclined to refute it either. Instead, he bounded over to Riku's side and snatched up the hand that the junior had just released.

"It's nice to meet both of you," he enthused, pumping poor K'nsolear's hand like he was trying to strike oil. "I really hope you and Roxas will get along. Just one thing though: if you eat meals together, watch your plate. He's an absolute thief when it comes to food, especially desserts."

"Sora!" I protested. This is why older siblings should _never_ be allowed in dormrooms.

My stupid brother just grinned at me and high-tailed it to the door. "We should be going," he announced. "I have all of my own stuff to unpack. Aaaaand," he added with a smirk in my direction, "I haven't seen Riku in months. We have some _catching up_ to do."

I groaned while Riku just chuckled and shook his head. "You two go be gay with each other somewhere else," I ordered, giving the older boy near me a shove. "I don't want to know about it."

Sora laughed and disappeared into the hallway. Riku followed him, giving me a quick good-bye before he, too, disappeared. That left me alone with my new roommate and said roommate's substantially friendlier cousin. The awkwardness was definitely threatening, but before it could get too out-of-control, I took a few steps closer to K'nsolear and offered him a smile.

"Sorry about Sora," I said, motioning to his hand which he was holding limply in front of himself like it had broken. "He's a complete dork sometimes. Did he squash your fingers?"

"Ah, no," he replied, seeming to wake up from another stunned half-daze. He shook his hand a little and then let it fall back to his side. I noticed that his eyes never really met mine, and it seemed like he was trying to patch his cracked mask back together. It didn't really offend me. I knew enough about the N'Darie to know that keeping an outward appearance of control and calm was extremely important to them. If my roommate wanted to wear masks around me, I didn't really mind. It meant that we wouldn't be good friends or anything, but as long as we could coexist, it would be okay.

"Do you need help unpacking?" I offered. Hey, just because it wasn't likely that we would end up friends doesn't mean that I shouldn't try.

"No. No, I'm fine," he replied. But then, finally, his green eyes locked with mine and I saw an actual bit of concern in them. "Are you okay with that side of the room?" he asked. "I didn't unpack anything because I didn't know if you would have a preference."

I lifted an eyebrow at this unusual display of selflessness. Someone had taught him how to be polite and thoughtful of others. "Yeah, I'm fine with it," I assured him. "I didn't really care, although if I had to pick, I would have picked this side anyway."

"Okay, good." He smiled a little then, and I was struck by how nervous and guarded the expression seemed. In that moment, I received the impression that, underneath the masks his upbringing forced him to wear, my roommate was an incredibly shy and introverted person. And really, when I thought about it a bit, it wasn't surprising. He was a half-breed, caught between a world that would kill him on sight and a world that gawked and pointed at him but would never trust him. Vindeflei at least looked human; K'nsolear would never have the luxury of being overlooked.

"Well, I'll leave you to it then," I told him, deciding to give him the space he so obviously needed after that lovely encounter with my brother and Riku. "Let me know if you need my help or anything."

"Thank you, Roxas," Vindeflei responded with another of her soft smiles. K'nsolear said nothing, but I could tell from his unguarded eyes that he felt the same way. I just nodded once, then turned back to my side of the room to continue my unpacking. A moment later, the two of them did the same.

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A/N: To those of you who have actually read my book(s): Remember how different the Justin in DWM was from the Justin in AG? Same thing here with K'nsolear. This is teenager!K'nsolear, the one who hates his dad and is moody and short-tempered. There are hints of what he will become, but they're kind of buried underneath all the teenage confusion. So, no worries. I haven't gone and killed my own favorite character. :)


	3. Good Vibrations

**Down with Love**

**Description**: Sequel to "Dance with Me". Roxas has arrived at college to find romance literally everywhere he turns, and somehow he always ends up playing matchmaker. Cupid has never been so unwilling or so downright grumpy. AU, _Amazing Grace_ crossover.

**Disclaimer**: Kingdom Hearts and all the Final Fantasy games belong to Square-Enix. _Amazing Grace_ and its characters belong to me.

A/N: Just a little note that Demyx's last name was not my idea originally. I do intend to give the full credit for the names of all the Org members in a later chapter (because it's more dramatically appropriate to put it there), but I wanted to mention here that credit is owed. Tesa ye. ... bows ...

* * *

**3. Good Vibrations**  
Beach Boys

I was finished unpacking and K'nsolear was about three-quarters of the way through when this bizarre mullet-mohawk thing poked itself into our room.

"Hi!" the person attached to the unfortunate hairstyle greeted with an extremely large grin. "How's everything going in here?"

Surprised and a bit wary, my roommate and I exchanged glances. Neither of us had any idea who this overly-friendly person was. "Uh … good," I answered him, partly against my better judgment.

"Good!" the stranger cried immediately and stepped into the room. "I'm Demyx," he introduced himself, still grinning, "the Resident Assistant for this hall."

Well, that explained why he was barging into our room like a member of the welcoming committee. Because, essentially, he was. That cheerful grin, though, worried me. He looked like the type to constantly and persistently interfere in someone's life all in the name of "making sure you're still doing fine." That kind of behavior would drive me nuts within a matter of days, and I kind of doubted K'nsolear would appreciate it either.

Demyx had continued speaking, barely taking enough time to breathe between phrases. "I'm just down the hall in 309 if you ever need me. You know, if you have questions, concerns, complaints, or even if you just want to talk, come on down and I'll be there. Well," he amended with a little tip of his head, "unless I'm in class, of course, or eating, or out with friends or something. Actually, I'm not there very often, but you can always write me a message on my whiteboard or something and I'll get back to you. I'm really good at returning messages. Well, except when I have a paper due. Then I can get a little scatterbrained, you know? So I guess what I'm trying to say is -"

I had so had enough by this point. Forget days. This guy was making me nuts within a matter of seconds. The only other person who could do that to me on a regular basis was Sora.

"We get it," I interrupted him loudly, making him jump. When he fixed his surprised but honest blue-green eyes on me, I continued a little more kindly, "If we need something, we'll be sure to seek you out." Then, to appease him and get him the hell out of there, I gave him a smile and said, "Thanks, Demyx."

He beamed. "You're welcome … um …" A brief look of confusion passed over his face, but he quickly replaced it with yet another smile. "Hold on a minute," he told me and stepped backwards out of the room. While his eyes checked the number above the door, one hand dove into his pocket and pulled out a sheet of paper. A moment later, he had stepped back in and was checking the paper instead.

"Roxas," I told him, understanding what he was looking for.

"Roxas," he repeated distractedly. A second later, he confirmed, "Skyhawke, right?" When I nodded, he turned to my roommate with that never-ending smile and continued, "Then that means you must be …" His eyes dropped to the paper again.

All at once, his smile froze. Just froze up solid like he had turned to stone. Slowly, his eyes rose, and he looked at K'nsolear with a strange mixture of surprise and fear in his face. He held up one finger, and when he spoke, his voice actually shook. "H-H-Hold on another minute." The sheet of paper he held fell to the floor as his hand went back into the pocket for a second search.

Initially, my reaction to all of this had been serious amusement. I mean, how oblivious did Demyx have to be to be talking to us all this time and only now notice who K'nsolear was? But as our RA's actions became more and more panicked, I began to feel a solid weight settle in my stomach. My roommate was about to be singled out and pointed at again, and somehow I knew this would be worse than the offense created by Riku's shocked rudeness. By the look on Demyx's face and the number of stapled-together pages he had just produced from his pocket, this was going to be serious. Official. K'nsolear knew it, too. He had sat down in his desk chair with that same resigned expression he had worn earlier, and his cousin already had her hand on his shoulder, her calm smile present but looking strained.

"Man oh man," Demyx muttered to himself as he began to unfold the papers he had found, "I knew I was going to mess this up. I just knew I was. I _told_ them they had picked the wrong guy for this." Nervously, he glanced between the two cousins and asked in a meek little voice, "Could I, you know, just sort of go out and come in again? Start over? Please?"

"Of course," Vindeflei replied before K'nsolear could say anything, and the next second, Demyx was gone.

About twenty seconds later, he came back, head held high and back straight. Gone was the smile. So was the fear, and so was, from what I could tell, every other emotion in existence. He looked like a freaking robot as he came in, bowed low at the waist for a heartbeat or two, and then straightened up with the pages held out in front of him like a proclamation.

"Hello," he boomed as if he were addressing an auditorium full of students instead of one lonely individual, "and welcome to our fine institution. I am Demyx O'Donohue, your Resident Assistant for this, your freshman year at Swarthmore College. I am truly honored to be able to welcome the son of such a noble and prestigious House to our community. Over the next several months, you will undoubtedly encounter many new and enriching experiences as you seek to learn more about the world and about yourself. As your guide during this all-important time in your life, I will be happy to assist you in any way that I can should you require it. The journey that you begin today will -"

Sue me, but I couldn't take it anymore. I just couldn't. This was beyond humiliating, for all four of us. "Demyx!" I cried, taking several steps forward and raising my hands in supplication. "Stop. Just stop. Really. This isn't necessary."

Those blue-green eyes blinked at me, but a second later, Demyx was leaning down, holding the papers in front of him as if to shield himself from K'nsolear's eyes with it. "Are you sure?" he whispered, the fear clearly returning to his eyes and voice. "The Dean told me this speech is really important. I'm supposed to make sure I read it all from beginning to end."

"I'm sure," I assured him, feeling rather strange that I, the freshman, was telling him, the RA, what to do. "And he's not deaf, you know. You can talk to him normally."

"But … but …" Demyx stammered. I could tell that he didn't want to be doing this but that he was afraid he'd get in serious trouble if he didn't. His eyes kept darting around as if the Dean were about to jump out from somewhere and start beating on him. "They made me go to a special seminar and everything," he insisted. "All about the N'Darie and how to behave and what to say and lots of political stuff like that."

Ugh, politics. Successfully keeping the scowl of disgust off my face, I snuck a glance at my roommate to see what his reaction was. When Demyx had been reading off his idiot welcome speech, K'nsolear had looked like he couldn't decide whether to curl up and die or jump up and start destroying things. Now that the nonsense had stopped, his anger had dissolved, and he seemed rather relieved. Those reactions, combined with what I had already learned in the encounter with Riku, prompted me to make my biggest pronouncement yet.

Looking straight into Demyx's eyes, I declared, "I really don't think that Soli is interested in political stuff. I know I just met him, but he seems like a pretty normal guy to me. So you don't need to treat him special or anything. Just, you know, treat him like you would anyone else."

Now, I know I was making some pretty big assumptions there, but I wasn't quite prepared for the dead _silence_ that greeted me for a good minute and a half. Everyone just stared at me, speechless. Demyx looked like a frightened rabbit, all coiled up on himself and ready to bolt at the slightest sound. K'nsolear just look stupefied, like I had been talking in Swedish or something. Vindeflei's expression of shock turned into one of quiet amusement after a few seconds, but even she didn't say anything. It was like someone had found the master switch for the passage of time and turned it off.

I was starting to wonder if I had just made a huge mistake and if all that political garbage was worth something after all when K'nsolear shifted slightly, coughed, and asked, "'Soli'?"

Great. Open mouth, insert foot. Perhaps I should have thought a bit more before deciding to give my newly-met roommate a cutesy little nickname without asking him first. However, I've always felt that a little bravado never hurt anyone, so rather than smack myself in the forehead or start sputtering apologies like my brother would have done, I just shrugged and replied, "Yeah. Your name is four syllables long. You need a nickname. Don't you like it? I can call you 'Kin' instead. Or just 'Lee' if you don't like the 'So' part."

Vindeflei actually started laughing at that, although she quickly covered her mouth with her free hand to hide it. K'nsolear blinked at me for several seconds before slowly, hesitatingly, breaking out into a small smile. "No," he said quietly, "it's okay. You can … call me that … if you want."

That smile. I really, _really_ don't want to admit this, but it did me in. Last year, whenever Sora called home or wrote me about his roommate and the troubles he was having with him, I always listened politely, encouraged him, and acted the good brother in every way. Privately, though, I was shaking my head and wondering why Sora had to be so fricking nosy all the time. I swore to myself that when I got to college, if I got stuck with a problem roommate, I would just ignore him and it and go on with my own life in my own way. I wasn't about to butt my way into someone else's business and try to force them to do things they didn't want to just because I thought it would make them happier. I mean, really, what the hell do I know? I'm just a stupid teenager with fewer than two decades of life experience under my belt. What gives me the right to tell other people what to do?

When I saw K'nsolear's smile, though, dammit if it didn't feel good. I felt proud of myself, like I had accomplished something worthwhile. And dammit if I didn't want to do it again. Stupid N'Darie half-breed. It was all his fault. If he hadn't been so shy, so painfully, obviously withdrawn, I wouldn't have cared that I had just made him happy. But somehow I just knew that no one had ever tried to give him a nickname before, that no one had ever thought him _normal_ enough to _have_ a nickname. And knowing that made the guarded joy in his expression all the more bittersweet.

"What about me, Roxas?" Vindeflei asked, breaking me from my thoughts. Her calm smile had brightened into something sparkling and mischievous. "My name is four syllables long as well. Do I get a nickname?"

"Sure," I grinned at her, relieved to shake off some of that tension and awkwardness that had crept up around me. "You're easy. Vindi. Like if a Russian tried to say 'Wendy'." She laughed again and this time didn't try to hide it. "And you can call me Rox if you want. You know, if two syllables are too much for you."

K'nsolear said something quietly in L'Guan that I couldn't catch - not that I would have understood it if I had - prompting his cousin to pinch him lightly on the arm. He responded by shoving her, and she retaliated by picking up his pillow from the bed and bashing him over the head with it. The tug-of-war that ensued over the pillow probably would have been more vicious had they both not been laughing so hard.

I don't know if it was what I had said, the talk of nicknames, or this last child-like display, but something finally snapped Demyx out of his terror-induced paralysis. "S-S-Seriously?" he stuttered. "You don't want me to act … you know … all political?"

A quick truce was called in regards to the pillow, and my roommate turned to our RA with a hesitant smile. I could tell he was feeling shy again. "No," he managed to assure Demyx, "I don't."

"But … but your House," Demyx argued, although the hope in his voice was obvious. "You guys are, like, really important. Are you sure it's okay?"

Something different flickered in K'nsolear's eyes at that, but before I could figure out what it was, it was gone. "I'm sure," he said quietly.

Demyx's entire upper body sagged with blatant relief. "Thank goodness!" he moaned, folding up the speech again and returning it to his pocket. As he leaned down to pick up the student list he had dropped, he began babbling, "I was so excited to be an RA this year and be like a big brother to everyone and help you guys out, but then they told me I would have to be all serious and official and stuff around you, and I told them that I didn't think I could do it, but they said I had to do it anyway, and that made me all worried, and then they made me take that class and that made me even more worried, and -"

"So I guess it's good you don't have to worry anymore," I interrupted strongly to get him to just shut up. I was seriously starting to regret stepping in earlier. At least when he was scared, he was mostly quiet.

Demyx beamed at me again and nodded his head happily. His smiles weren't so bad, but the guy really needed an Off button. "Yeah!" he declared and neatly folded up his student sheet again. I thought, or rather hoped, that that would be the end of it and he would leave us alone now, but he took another breath and kept on going. "So I've told you who I am and where to find me. What else? Um … oh, I know!" He straightened up to his full height, almost like he was trying to look official again, although this time there was still life in his eyes and warmth in his smile. "Tonight is Freshmen Orientation, so I thought everyone on the hall could go to dinner together and then I can take all of you first-years over to the amphitheater. Um …" His gaze rested on Vindeflei and, just like before, he seemed to notice her for the first time. "Are you on my hall, too?"

"No," she replied, with far more patience than I would have had at this point. "I'm downstairs on the second floor."

"Oh, okay. Well, you're welcome to join us, but your RA probably has plans for you, too. So, I was thinking we could meet in the lounge at 5:30 for dinner and then afterwards, we'll go on over to Orientation and then -"

"Actually, Demyx," I interrupted, extremely grateful that I had a reason to do so, "I already have plans to have dinner with my brother. And I'm not going to Orientation."

Demyx's face had fallen a little bit in resigned disappointment at my first statement, but at the second, his expression changed to a kind of horrified disbelief. "You're not going?" he echoed dramatically. "But you _have_ to go!"

"No I don't," I argued calmly. "No one's going to kick me out or fail me just because I didn't go to Orientation." That was one nice thing about having an older brother who had gone through all of this the year before. Most of the other freshmen who were unpacking and settling in right now were probably still suffering under the restrictions of high school. The teacher says do this; you say "Yessir." But college isn't high school. College is freedom. I didn't have to do a damn thing that Demyx said if I didn't want to. As long as I stayed clean, didn't cause trouble, and didn't fail my classes, my time was mine to do with as I pleased.

"But … but …," Demyx was stammering, unable to comprehend that anyone wouldn't want to go to Orientation. "It's tradition!" he finally settled on. "You're not a proper Swattie unless you have your candle."

I smirked. "Oh yes, the candle." Sora had told me all about the candle. Partly as a way to get Demyx off my back and partly because I was just feeling snarky at the moment, I crossed to my desk, pulled out a pencil, and held it up in my hand like it was a lit candle. Serenely, I intoned, "These candles represent your own individuality. Regard them and see how together, as a community, we can light up the darkness of the night. But never forget that this powerful light is made up of all of your individual lights, and by removing one, the whole is diminished." I paused for a moment, pretending to gaze at the "candle" thoughtfully, but then suddenly affected a look of panic. "Aah! It's going out! My individuality is going out!" Rushing over to the other side of the room, I begged of the woman who was again openly laughing, "Vindi! Vindi! Can I borrow some of yours?"

When I turned back to Demyx, he had his arms crossed over his chest as if in disapproval, but he couldn't hide the little smile that was creeping into his face. "Okay, okay," he conceded, throwing his arms up in the air in mock capitulation. "I get it. You're not going." He turned to K'nsolear and asked, "What about you? Can I talk you into joining us?"

My roommate shared a quick glance with his cousin before answering, "Actually, Vindeflei and I were planning to eat dinner together. As for the Orientation …" He smiled a little and flicked his gaze at me for a half-second. "I think I'll pass."

Demyx groaned and threw his hands in the air again. He was certainly a demonstrative guy if a bit clichéd. "Fine. Both of you skip out on me." A finger came up and waggled at us as he said, "But don't come crying to me once you realize you've lost out on a vital part of your freshman experience."

Yeah, I know I'm evil, but I couldn't resist. Innocently, I replied, "But I thought we were supposed to come to you if we have any problems, Demyx."

Thankfully for me and my less-than-considerate attitude, my new talkative and expressive RA had a sense of humor large enough to deal with me. He blinked at me for a moment, then burst into laughter. "Enough!" he cried after a moment. "I can't deal with this anymore. I'm going to go see if I have any freshmen on this hall who actually _need_ me." He threw us a grin over his shoulder as he turned around and headed out the door. "You two have a good evening being your own non-traditional selves. I'll see you around."

Once he had disappeared, I turned to my roommate with a grin and a thumbs-up. At that moment, I was feeling pretty darn good about myself. I had asserted my independence, stood up for Soli, and gotten rid of the chatterbox RA without having to resort to violence. All in all, quite a decent accomplishment for one afternoon. The fact that K'nsolear responded to my smile with one of his own just made it all the more awesome.

I had a feeling that the two of us were going to get along just fine.

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A/N: I knew people who were so moved by that speech during Orientation that they kept their candle with them for all four years. Mine hit the trash as soon as I got back to my room. :) I promise the set-up stuff is almost done, and then the fun will begin.


	4. Come Go With Me

**Down with Love**

**Description**: Sequel to "Dance with Me". Roxas has arrived at college to find romance literally everywhere he turns, and somehow he always ends up playing matchmaker. Cupid has never been so unwilling or so downright grumpy. AU, _Amazing Grace_ crossover.

**Disclaimer**: Kingdom Hearts and all the Final Fantasy games belong to Square-Enix. _Amazing Grace_ and its characters belong to me.

A/N: O-_kay_. I'm going to try very hard to throw myself back into this story and get some regular updates going. Lack of inspiration be damned, I say. On another note, you may notice that I've changed the description for the story. After mulling it about in my head for a while, I'm going to take it in a slightly different direction. Considering I hadn't gotten very far yet, I figured no one would mind.

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**4. Come Go With Me**  
The Del-Vikings

A couple of days passed in which I did my utmost best to avoid all of the traditional freshman activities, including the screening of _The Graduate_ and the infamous sex-ed/date-rape video that had traumatized my brother so badly. Demyx whined at me every time I said no to something, but I stood my ground. And K'nsolear was exempt from everything if he wanted, since he was "special" and all, so I used that to my advantage as well. All I had to do was mention that Soli was looking forward to my company, and Demyx would back off immediately. Thankfully, my roommate played along without complaint. It helped that the two of us got along so well.

Even with our pseudo-rocky start thanks to Riku, K'nsolear and I had become pretty comfortable with each other rather quickly. I wouldn't have called us friends, though, not at that point. I was still spending time with my brother and anxiously waiting for the upperclassmen to return, and K'nsolear spent all of his time with his cousin. We talked a bit, usually at night, but only about inconsequential things. I avoided outright prying about his lineage, which parent was which, and how they came to have a child, but I did ask him some general questions about his family a few times. Whether he had siblings, how many cousins he had, stuff like that. Even so he never seemed willing to reveal much. All I learned those first few days was that he was an only child. When he told me that, I joked that he could have Sora if he wanted him, but he didn't seem to appreciate it much so I dropped it. Eventually, Vindeflei revealed that she had two younger sisters and dozens of cousins on her father's side, but she didn't offer any more information and I didn't ask.

Those first few days were pretty laid-back for me since I pretty much refused to do anything, but I swear I didn't sleep a wink the night before Max was scheduled to come back. His plane was due in late in the morning, so we had agreed to meet for dinner to give him time to arrive and settle in. I think I spent the whole day chewing my fingernails off with nervousness. Like I said, when it comes to Max, I'm a total dork. To the point where I actually worried about my outfit for a few minutes before I remembered that Max is a geek like me and wouldn't give a damn about what I was wearing. Well, unless I wore Sora's old "Kirk x Spock 4-ever" T-shirt, but I wouldn't be caught dead in that thing anyway.

Finally, after a long, stressful day where I alternated between ecstatic joy at being near my hero again and utter terror that I would somehow be found lacking and rejected, I left my room and headed across the beach to Sharples. Max, like Riku, preferred to live slightly off-campus, although this year he had chosen a room in the tri-building PPR complex rather than Mary Lyons which was a good fifteen minute walk away from the sports' fields and twenty or twenty-five minutes from any actual classrooms. Because of this, we met at the lower floor entrance rather than on the front patio, and because of that, I was able to see Max several minutes before I was close enough to talk to him. I suppose that was good because it gave me time to compose myself and get the surprise off of my face. Surprise that he beat me there, considering that I had been counting down the seconds since dawn, and even more surprise that he had company. The woman he was talking to was slightly taller than he was, which of course made her seriously taller than me, and was rather pretty with long, dark blonde hair framing a striking, if slightly severe-looking, face.

Max waved a little when he spotted me and gave me a half-smile. "Roxas," he said when I was close enough to hear, "it's so good to see you again." Those words were enough to bring a grin to my face because, you know, I'm a dork. Gesturing to the woman next to him, he continued, "This is my friend Natasha Ivanova. Tasha, this is Roxas Skyhawke, the freshman I told you about."

Natasha gave me a shy smile very similar to Max's, and that, plus the fact that Max had just admitted to telling her about me, made me like her immediately. "Hello," she greeted in a quiet voice. "Max tells me you're going to help him fill all of SWIL's orders this year." Her smile widened a bit, and her gray eyes sparkled slightly. "I wish you both luck. I've heard Xemnas wants quite a lot this year."

I was of course thrilled that my hero and teacher was already planning on bringing me in on his projects, but the bizarre name confused me and dampened my excitement a bit. "SWIL?" I asked, looking between my two elders.

"The science-fiction club," Max answered with a shrug. "It stands for something -"

"Swarthmore Warders of Imaginative Literature," Natasha supplied.

"- but that's not really the point," Max finished. Giving me another half-smile, he admitted, "I invited Xemnas to join us, actually, so we could talk about what he wants. I hope you don't mind, Roxas?"

I did mind a little, but only a little. While I didn't like the thought of sharing Max - and _God_, wouldn't Sora be all over me for thinking that? - the earlier we could start working together, the better. "Nah, it's fine," I told him, and then, because I was feeling especially magnanimous, I turned to Natasha and asked, "Are you joining us as well?"

"Ah, no," she replied shyly. Her eyes flicked to Max, and I thought she flushed slightly although it might have been my imagination. "I have plans to eat with friends already, but thank you." Turning her smile to Max, she said, "I'll see you in class, then."

"See you," he responded warmly. His dark eyes watched her as she left, but then they turned to me and he asked, "Ready?"

I grinned at him. Dumb question, but there was no way I was going to tell him that. "You bet!"

Sharples has three main rooms where the students eat called, unimaginatively, the big room, the middle room, and the small room. Sora and his friends tend to eat in the middle room, so that's where I had been eating since arriving on campus. Max, however, led me straight to the small room and picked out one of the small four-top tables pushed up against the inner wall. Once we had both gotten food and settled in, he started the conversation by asking how my first week had been, if I liked my roommate, had I thought about my classes yet, etc. I responded with questions about his flight, how his little brother was doing, and if his dad had made a decision on whether to buy a shuttle or not yet, because seriously, whether he had a good relationship with his dad or not, that would be _fricking cool!_ Somewhere along the line, he started telling me some of his ideas for his senior project - which was a whole year away, but still, it was good to think about it now - at which point I just sat there, captivated, and absorbed.

Eventually, the small part of my mind that wasn't busy being in awe of the genius in front of me began to realize that there were definite similarities between Max and my reserved roommate. Like K'nsolear, Max was extremely quiet and anti-social around most people. Riku liked to say that Max was the perfect roommate because, even when he was there, it was like he wasn't. Something about me, though, encouraged him to open up and be himself in a way he never did with any of his other friends. Maybe it was my wide-eyed wonder or maybe the fact that my passion for knowledge was as fiery and all-consuming as his. Whatever it was, it brought down his walls and unleashed his smile and, _dammit!_, the urge to help people come out of their shells must be genetic or something because that smile made me feel ten feet tall. And I found myself wondering what I could do to bring K'nsolear's out as well. What connection I could make with him like I had made with Max to make him feel comfortable and understood and happy.

Damn shy people are going to be the death of me, I swear.

When we had first entered the cafeteria, the room had been fairly empty, but as time went by, more and more students began to come in and fill it up. One table in particular had a large number of people at it, all chatting and laughing, and more people kept adding on at the ends or squeezing in between others. Natasha, I had noted early on, was one of them. Another was my RA who, halfway through my story of a chemistry class disaster, walked into the small room with a dark-haired friend only to be tackled by a skinny girl with long brown hair and more earrings than I could count. Several minutes of excited babbling passed, along the lines of "I'm so glad to see you! I missed you so much!" while the friend kept on walking, his nose in a book, seemingly unaware that his companion had nearly been flattened.

"That's SWIL," Max said with a little smirk when I stopped talking and instead followed the oblivious bookworm with my eyes.

"Oh," I replied, unable to think of anything else to say. My mind drifted back to the previous February and the staged shooting, and I scanned the table to see if I could recognize anyone. I quickly spotted the blond with the mustache, his arm around one girl while he seemed to be chatting up another, but I didn't see the red-head. Idly, I wondered if he had graduated last year or if he simply hadn't shown up on campus yet. If Max and I were going to be dealing with the club on a regular basis, I supposed I'd find out eventually.

With my thoughts occupied on these things, I didn't notice the newcomer approaching our table until he was towering over me, blocking my vision and a good deal of the overhead light. Startled, I looked up into an extremely cold and stony expression, framed by light blue hair that flowed down to the man's shoulders. Pale eyes stared unblinkingly at me, and even though they were blank and lifeless, I could still somehow sense disapproval in them. "Who," the man asked in a soft, yet undeniably threatening voice, "are you?"

Now, I'm no coward, and I've dealt with my fair share of bullies and other idiots who try to intimidate people, but this guy made me freeze down to my toes. I just stared at him, mouth slightly open, unable to do or say anything in reply. I was the classic deer in headlights, the rabbit hypnotized by the rattlesnake, and I just knew that in a matter of seconds there were going to be lots of sharp, pointy teeth coming my way to devour my soul and there was absolutely nothing that I could do to stop it.

And then Max spoke, solidifying himself as my complete and total hero in every sense of the word. "This is Roxas. He's a freshman and my apprentice. He is _not_ to be bothered, or Xemnas can figure out how to get his toys himself. Is that clear, Saïx?"

Instantly, the cold, unavoidable death that had been bearing down on me evaporated, and the blue-haired man calmly pulled out the seat next to me and seated himself with a graceful elegance. "I will inform the others," he stated evenly, the threatening tone to his voice replaced with something more like refined boredom.

"Especially Larxene."

"Of course." Turning to me, he held out a hand in a friendly manner although he did not smile. "I am Saïx," he introduced himself, "co-president of SWIL along with Xemnas. Pleased to meet you, Roxas." I just stared at that hand for a long moment, but Saïx waited patiently and eventually I took it. Once I had released it again, he turned his attention to his dinner as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. "Xemnas will be here in a moment," he informed Max and then proceeded to eat.

With something close to desperation, I glanced over at Max who smiled encouragingly at me. Truth be told, I would have liked something a little more substantial to deal with the fact that an apparent psychopath had just sat down next to me. Something along the lines of a gun or a taser stick. But as the seconds passed and neither Saïx nor Max did or said anything further, something began to niggle at the back of my brain until it wormed its way past the unease and nervousness into the front of my mind: Max had called me his apprentice. His apprentice! Holy illegal substances, Batman, I was high after that, even if there was a potential chainsaw-murderer sitting next to me eating chicken pot pie.

A minute or two later, a second unsmiling stranger approached our table, although this one didn't attempt to turn me into a quivering mass of fight-or-flight instinct the way the first one had. Instead, he simply slid into the only remaining unoccupied seat without really looking at any of us. "Max," he greeted shortly in a deep, almost melodic voice.

"Xemnas," Max returned just as briefly.

This second man looked substantially older than any of the rest of us, prompting me to conclude that he was a senior. He had hair similar to my brother's boyfriend's, although I would call Riku's color a little more metallic than his duller gray. His eyes were sharp and clear, giving the impression that, even though he wasn't looking at you, he was more than aware of every little detail about you and everyone else around him. In fact, they were unnerving enough when they weren't looking at me that I kind of hoped they never did.

Max had produced a small notebook and a pencil from somewhere, and now he flipped the book open to a blank page. I noticed that his face had shut down again although there was a spark of anticipation in his dark eyes. "Let's hear it," he said without any preamble.

Apparently, this was the way Xemnas operated, for he immediately launched into his requests. "Pterodactyl Hunt. I want my birds to shoot venom. Something that will show up brightly against the fighters' armor so they can't pretend it didn't hit them or that it was already there, but of course it can't stain clothes or people will complain."

"Okay, so basically you want both custom armor and a fluid for the squirt guns so that when they come into contact with each other, the fluid turns a bright color. I can do that. Next."

"Some more of those blood capsules for the Black Knight, and I need another pair of those glowing contact lenses you made me last year for the Oracle."

"What happened to the last pair?"

"Lost."

Max sighed and jotted the request down. "I hope you got a bigger budget this year," he commented, "because those things weren't cheap."

"I'm fully prepared to use my own funds to cover any extra expenses," Xemnas replied easily.

The discussion went on like this for a fair while longer, with Xemnas listing things he wanted, Max taking notes and occasionally asking questions, and me just listening. Saïx didn't appear to do even that; he simply ate his meal in complete silence. I suppose to an outside observer, the whole thing would have been extremely boring, but I found it very interesting. Like Natasha had warned us, the list was long, but nothing on it seemed particularly difficult, although a few things sounded pretty intricate. About halfway through, I found myself agreeing with Max and wondering just how much money Xemnas was willing to contribute to make sure he got all his so-called "toys". From the sound of it, it would probably end up being a lot. The possibilities certainly were intriguing, though, and by the time Xemnas stopped talking and he and Saïx gathered up their trays, I was totally psyched. I had no clue why the two of them wanted all this stuff, but I could tell that it was going to be fun trying to figure out how to make it all.

After thanking us, Xemnas immediately moved away, but Saïx lingered and turned his pale eyes to me once more. In that same even, bland tone he had used before, he asked, "What is your surname, Roxas?"

I blinked at him once, surprised and mildly confused, before answering, "Skyhawke."

"S-k-y-h-a-w-k?"

"Add an 'e' on the end, but yeah."

"I shall add you to our email list," he proclaimed with a mild nod and then turned, apparently satisfied.

The announcement didn't bother me in the slightest - what's a few more emails, after all? - but Max's eyes narrowed at him with a sudden irritation that left me speechless. "Remember what I said, Saïx," he warned, subdued anger clear in his tone.

"Of course," Saïx replied soothingly. "We shall treat your apprentice with the utmost respect." Finally, the man smiled, and I immediately understood why he didn't do it very often. It was _creepy_.

Once Max and I were by ourselves again, I leaned over the table and demanded of him, "Are they really that bad?"

He looked up from his notes at my question and smiled at me, the expression once again open and unguarded. "Who, SWIL?" he asked, then continued without waiting for my answer, "No, they're not bad. It's just that a few of them like to have fun with the freshmen by scaring them a bit." He inclined his head gently at the other table and commented, "You've already experienced Saïx, and then there's Larxene who has the tendency to leer at a new person, lick her lips, and purr something along the lines of 'Mmm, fresh meat… .' I just wanted to spare you from the traditional initiation ceremonies."

"Oh, I see." Relieved, I sat back in my chair and nodded my gratitude. "Thanks." To be honest, his multiple warnings had worried me a bit, and I was glad that it wasn't something serious. True, Saïx had pretty much scared the crap out of me, but the rest of SWIL looked to be relatively harmless. Natasha had seemed quite nice, Demyx was okay if slightly airheaded, and Xemnas just looked to be super focused to the point of ignoring all else. No one seemed quite worthy of Max's anger or my brother's fear. In fact, they looked like a fairly fun group, if loud and a bit bizarre.

Until I got my first email from them. It was the following evening, and I had just gotten off of the phone with my parents when I decided to check my mail. Something called a 'SWILnews' was in my inbox from someone called xstpete1. Curious, I opened it to find what looked like minutes from a meeting. There were notes about this Pterodactyl Hunt thing, which Max had explained was a campus-wide live-action role-playing game that SWIL hosted annually, and other upcoming events like movie showings and the Activities Fair. Every so often, someone had inserted a snarky comment in parentheses and added either the tag "- L" or "- S", but other than that it seemed fairly normal. Then I got to the bottom and read the following:

ATTENDANCE (9/5/XX - aka "The Meeting of Eternal Darkness"):

India "All right then...WAR!" Todd  
Bristol "bwa … not awake yet" Reeves  
Zexion "(insert some long chemical equation here) (Seriously, Zex, stop doing that or we will scoop out your eyes with a rusty spork. - L) (Sporks are plastic. How can they be rusty? - S) (Shut up. - L)" Corazza  
Vexen "microbiotic" Prince  
Kris "Slightly late, but still the grand muckamuck of pancakes and orange juice" Chase  
CeCe "Not early, not late, and DEFINITELY not a tribble" Hunter  
Marluxia "More sentient than a pancake" Ferguson (A matter for debate. - L)  
Xigbar "Attacked, captured, looted, pillaged, and had impolite references to my ancestry made by a marauding pack of teddy bears" Stuart  
Natasha "surrounded by lunatics" Ivanova  
Suki-Toki "I'm back! Who missed me?" (We did! - S&L) Mishima  
Lexaeus "..." Boat  
Xaldin "Crusader of the Lost Wombat" Fisher  
Shelby "got two more piercings over the summer" Smith  
Larxene "I said, PUT IT IN THE HAPPY BOX!" Workman  
Lenamax "There's Klingons on the starboard bow! Scrape 'em off, Jim!" Shiroyama  
Demyx "It's worse than that, it's physics, Jim!" O'Donohue (I cannae change the script, Jim! - L)  
Axel was here. Really, he was. Don't you see the scorchmarks? (Very artistic. - S)  
Luxord "SPOON!" Downes

Until next time. Your devoted co-presidents,  
Saïx "Sweetness" Thornton and Xemnas "Light" St. Peter

And at that point, I had to take a moment and ask myself just what the _hell _I had gotten myself into this time.

* * *

A/N: Natasha Ivanova and Kris Chase belong to Little Pearl. Bristol Reeves belongs to Celestial Secrets. Suki-Toki Mishima belongs to Myuo Matsuro. Lenamax Shiroyama belongs to Dancing-Melody-69. Shelby Smith belongs to nothing-special-010. If your character didn't show up in the list, don't worry; she's a frosh and will show up later. Many, _many_ thanks for all these fantastic girls!

Some notes: I have to say that this story has taken AU to the next level because SWIL no longer exists. It was renamed Psi Phi a few years back. I, however, do not care. To me, it was, is, and always will be SWIL. So there. :P Also, I said before that credit for the last names does not belong to me. Instead, it goes to LoquitorLatinae who was the first writer I came across to use the last names of the voice actors as the character last names. Brilliant idea, imo.


	5. The Tracks of My Tears

**Down with Love**

**Description**: Sequel to "Dance with Me". Roxas has arrived at college to find romance literally everywhere he turns, and somehow he always ends up playing matchmaker. Cupid has never been so unwilling or so downright grumpy. AU, _Amazing Grace_ crossover.

**Disclaimer**: Kingdom Hearts and all the Final Fantasy games belong to Square-Enix. _Amazing Grace_ and its characters belong to me.

* * *

**5. The Tracks of My Tears**  
The Miracles

Anyone who's had even a rudimentary amount of scientific schooling knows that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. What they may not know is that this extremely important law also frequently applies to other aspects of life. Case in point: Having the upperclassmen return to campus meant that Max was back. It also, however, meant that Naminé was back. Normally, this would be fine. Like I said, Naminé is a perfectly nice and sweet girl. Nevertheless, her return spelled my doom in the form of my chronologically older, yet maturity-wise so much younger, sibling.

I guess it's kind of sad that, even though I knew he was going to do it, Sora caught me sort of off-guard when he made his move. I was expecting him to be a bit more straight-forward with it initially, like forcing me to eat a meal with her or something. The fact that he started off sneaky right from the beginning took me by surprise. That's my only excuse, really, since I should have seen it coming.

I had just finished my first day of classes, and Sora had shown up at my building to walk with me back to the dorms. I assumed he was just being his normal self - protective, encouraging, overly helpful - but, no, he had ulterior motives, the sneaky jerk. He kept up a simple conversation with me as we walked back to the residential area of campus, asking how my classes had gone and if I thought I was going to like them, and I answered his questions as much as I felt I needed to. We stopped in Parish to check our mailboxes, then began to cross the beach towards Mertz. That's when I saw her. She was sitting on the grass just at the point where the hill takes a sharp dip down to the bottom, her sketchbook on her knees. I was so tempted to just stop, turn around, and go somewhere else for the remainder of the day, but I knew it was pointless. So I kept walking, although I made a point to drag my feet as much as possible.

My darling brother pretended not to see her until we were practically stepping on her, and then he cried out like she was his best friend in all the world, "Naminé! How have you been? How was your summer?"

Startled, Naminé jumped slightly at the sound of his voice and quickly closed her sketchbook, but when she turned to us, she seemed calm again. "Sora," she smiled. "My summer was good. How was yours?"

"Pretty good," he replied with a shrug. Then, as I knew it would, his arm shot out and pushed me forward a few steps, "You remember my brother Roxas, right?"

Blue eyes focused on me instead, and the fact that it took a moment for recognition to dawn in them was _very_ encouraging to me. "Ah yes! It's nice to see you again, Roxas."

"Yeah. Nice to see you, too."

Not waiting for an invitation, Sora flopped down next to her and immediately began talking his head off. Naminé seemed surprised, but she quickly recovered, smiling and answering his questions when he left her enough breathing room to reply. During this time, I attempted to sneak by and escape to my room, but Sora grabbed onto my ankle before I could get away and kept tugging on it until I sat down, too. Since I had no intention of joining in the conversation - and really, I couldn't have elbowed my way into it if I had wanted - I just sat there and watched the Frisbee game that was going on down at the bottom of the hill. I knew that eventually my brother would find a way to go off and leave me there with Naminé, but there was no reason for me to acknowledge this blatantly obvious scheme or help it along in any way.

About ten minutes later, maybe a little less, someone called out my brother's name from a little ways off, and we all turned to find Riku waving at him from nearby the library. This was, of course, the second half of Sora's strategy, and of course he had used his boyfriend to implement it. Really, my brother has no imagination at all. I was so bored and unimpressed by the whole thing that I barely heard Sora apologizing to Naminé and taking his leave and when he suggested I stay and keep her company, I agreed without a fight. He would have just made life hell for me if I had. So I stayed. I didn't even watch him go.

Sometime during my brother's onslaught, Naminé had opened her sketchbook to a blank page and begun to draw something in it. When Sora left, I did the polite thing at first and asked her to show it to me, which she did. It was a simple landscape sketch of the tree-lined path down the beach and the train station at the end. It was pretty good, so I told her I liked it. She thanked me and went back to coloring it in with the pencils she had brought with her. The awkward silence descended pretty much immediately after that. There wasn't much we could do about it though, since she would rather draw than talk and, as much as I didn't mind the company, I didn't particularly want to be there at the moment. Add to that the fact that our ears were still ringing a bit from Sora's nattering, and it was pretty much inevitable.

The silence lasted a while, I'm not sure how long, but eventually, Naminé broke it by saying, "You know, Roxas, while it's nice of you to offer to keep me company, you don't need to stay. I can tell you want to go."

Sighing, I hung my head and plucked a piece of grass to rip to pieces while I considered my options. I could leave, but if I did, Sora would just find another way to throw us together. And then he'd find another and then another until I lost it and killed him. Staying, however, wasn't doing anything except making a nice girl progressively uncomfortable. I could make an effort to get to know her better like my brother wanted, but I didn't really feel like it. So, I did the best thing I could think of to solve all my problems at once in the most efficient matter: I decided to be completely straightforward with her.

Tossing, my mutilated grass aside, I flopped backwards, stared at the sky, and let it all come out. "Actually, Naminé, I do need to stay because I need to ask you something. See, Sora has decided that we would make a perfect couple and has made it his mission to get us together. So, I need to know if you have any interest in me at all. If you do, well, I don't have any interest in you at the moment, but I like you enough to get to know you better and see if something develops on its own, _without_ Sora's help. I can't promise that it will, but I'm also not going to rule out that it might. On the other hand, if you don't have any interest in me, _please_ tell Sora immediately because otherwise he's not going to give up and you're going to find yourself set up with me over and over again until you do. And the longer it goes on, the crazier the set-ups will be. Believe me, I know my brother. He had all summer to plan and he has Riku's help. There won't be any escape for either of us. So …" I paused and shifted my eyes to her. "Do you? Have any interest in me?"

Unsurprisingly, Naminé was staring at me, wide-eyed and slack-jawed. After a moment of stunned silence, she asked haltingly, "How could I? I barely know you."

I laughed at that. "I know, right?" I replied with a grin. "But Sora seems to think that since he fell in love at first sight, everyone should."

Naminé shook her head and, slowly, the smile returned to her face. "Your brother is sweet," she said as she returned her attention to her sketch. "Unrealistic, but sweet."

"Hmph," I returned, crossing my arms behind my head and shutting my eyes. "Sweet to you, maybe. To me, he's a pain in the neck." I was much happier now that I knew I had been rejected. Oddly, it made me much more comfortable with her, and I finally felt like staying a while. "You should tell him," I advised, "the sooner the better. And be firm about it, too. If he thinks I have even the slightest chance with you, he'll keep on bugging us."

The blonde girl beside me laughed gently and asked, "Should I be insulted at how eager you seem to be about not having a chance with me?"

Opening my eyes, I hurried to assure her, "It's not because of you, I swear. It's because I want Sora to get off of my back. I had to deal with him all summer!" I heaved a huge sigh as the memories came back unwanted. "_God_, Naminé, you should have heard him. If he wasn't gushing about Riku, it was about us and how perfect we were and how happy we were going to be and how someday we'd have such beautiful blond babies and _Jesus Christ_, I wanted to strangle him just to get him to shut up!"

Naminé was laughing again, her hand covering her mouth and her eyes crinkling at the corners in a very pretty way. "Well," she said merrily, "I'll be sure to tell him as soon as possible that he's going to have to find a different way to get his little nieces and nephews. You have absolutely no chance with me." Something sad flickered in her eyes then, and she turned away slightly as she added in a lower voice, "My heart is already taken."

Okay, I'll admit that as much as I wanted to hear that she didn't want to date me, hearing those exact words sent a little stab through my male ego, but her second statement eased it immediately and replaced it with a small wave of worry. Her smile had vanished, and the light in her eyes had dimmed. Concerned for her now instead of for myself, I sat back up and moved a bit closer to her. "Hey," I murmured. "You okay? You suddenly got sad."

"Yes," she responded with a mere shadow of her previous smile. "I'm fine."

That was a clear lie, but I didn't call her on it. Instead, I took a moment to think. I knew she was single - Sora was an idiot, but he wasn't about to try to set me up with someone who had a boyfriend already - but her admission meant that she liked someone. Like any other normal human being with an ounce of curiosity in him, I wanted to ask who it was, but I knew I didn't have the right. I barely knew her, and even if she told me, I doubt I'd know him. So I held my tongue and dropped my eyes.

That's when my gaze fell on the sketchbook in her lap and I remembered. She had been drawing something as Sora and I approached. Something other than the landscape. Something she didn't want us to see. A shout rang out from the game down the hill, and it all clicked in my head at once.

"He's over there playing Frisbee, isn't he?" I asked her, offering as friendly a smile as I could manage. "And you're doing the classic tactic of sitting within his line of sight, hoping that he'll notice you and maybe even come over to talk to you." Naminé didn't answer, but I could see from the slight blush on her cheeks that I was right.

Now, like I've said before, I don't consider love to be particularly important to a person's happiness. Certainly not important enough to worry about it or go out looking for it just for its own sake. But the thing is, once you're in it, you're in it, and unless you have a pretty good reason not to, you might as well work to make sure both you and the one you love are happy, right? Besides, I might be logically minded and all, but I'm not emotionally stunted. I know that once you fall in love, it's hard to fall back out.

That's why, even though I had no interest in trying to create some sort of romantic relationship between me and Naminé, once I knew she had romantic feelings for someone else and hadn't acted on them, I felt that annoying urge to help again. It's genetic, I swear. I don't even _want_ to help people out like this, but for some reason, I always find myself saying things without thinking. And when that happens, I always end up getting in over my head.

"Why don't you go talk to him?" my mouth asked without my brain's input. "I mean, I don't know you that well and I don't even know which of those guys he is, but I know you're sweet and nice and pretty and talented. I don't see why you don't have as much of a chance if not more of one than someone else."

"I can't," she whispered, and the words stopped my idiot mouth cold. There were actual tears forming in her eyes as she admitted, "He already has someone else."

"Oh." I felt horrible. Stupid. A total moron. Like I should just duct tape my stupid mouth shut and go throw myself off a cliff somewhere.

But then Naminé smiled at me again, and this time it was real even though her eyes were still threatening to spill over. "But thank you, Roxas," she said. "You're really sweet, too."

I swallowed. "Um, thanks," I murmured in reply. And then, because it really is genetic and I can't help myself, I added, "I know you probably have girlfriends and stuff to help, but if you ever need someone to talk to, I'll be happy to listen."

"Thanks," she said again and, putting aside her sketchbook for the moment, leaned over to hug me. I hugged her back without hesitation. We sat like that for a few seconds, giving and receiving comfort, and when she sat back again, her eyes were dry. "I think I'm going to go now," she told me, "if that's all right."

"Of course it is," I assured her, getting to my feet. I waited for her to gather up her art supplies and then offered her my hand to help her up. "I'll see you around, Naminé."

"Yes," she smiled at me, and I could see in her eyes that I had made myself a good friend. "See you, Roxas." She turned and walked away.

Feeling pretty good about how the situation had turned out, I shrugged on my backpack and started off once more for my dorm. Not surprisingly, I had homework already, so I planned to work on that a bit, then take a nap until dinner. When I arrived at my room and opened the door, however, I found that such ordinary things simply were not to be. Not for me at least. Not today.

The room was a mess, like a freak tornado had blown through. Books and clothes were everywhere, all over the floor, and even the sheets had been ripped from my roommate's bed and scattered. The delicate things, like the computers and picture frames, had been untouched, but pretty much everything unbreakable that my roommate owned was now on the floor. Completely shocked, all I could do was stand in the doorway and stare for what seemed like a full minute. I couldn't even get enough of my brain to function so that I could start to wonder what had happened. Then my eyes fell on the two figures huddled together on the floor in a corner, and my rapidly-beating heart instantly froze in my chest.

"Soli! Vindi!" I gasped and rushed to them, dropping down beside them.

K'nsolear did not move, but Vindeflei opened her green eyes and focused on my worried face. She had her arms tightly around her cousin's body, holding him against her own with his head on her shoulder. His eyes were closed and he appeared to be asleep, but his face was stained with light blue streaks, telling me that he had been crying recently and hard at that.

"Roxas," Vindeflei greeted me with a small smile. I started to ask her what had happened, but she cut me off with a gentle, "Shhh …" and indicated the sleeping form in her arms with a small tip of her head. Mildly annoyed, I lowered my voice and asked again, receiving the answer, "Nothing."

"Bull," I retorted, but I sat back on my heels and gave them both a little space. Now that I wasn't panicking, I looked around the room again and tried to think. It really was a mess, like someone had ransacked the place looking for something. As I looked more closely, though, I noticed that nothing on the floor belonged to me, and further inspection of my side of the room proved it. My bookcases were still full, my bed was still made, and my drawers and closet were still closed. Whoever had done this had completely respected my side of the room. Inhaling sharply, I snapped my gaze back to K'nsolear, those tear tracks, and the way he was completely out of it like he had drained himself dry.

"Did _he_ do this?" I asked. "Was this some sort of temper tantrum?" Vindeflei just looked at me, her expression never changing, yet somehow I knew I was right. "Why? What happened?"

"I'm sorry, Roxas," she replied, her voice barely loud enough to hear. "It's personal."

I frowned heavily but didn't press it. Instead, I got to my feet and started cleaning up. I'm not sure why I did it. I should have just gone over to my side of the room and done my homework like I had planned and let my little-kid roommate clean up his own mess when he woke up. But for some reason, instead of abandoning them both to deal with their own problems and the ensuing consequences, I started picking up the sheets, looking for the fitted one so it could go on first.

"Roxas," Vindeflei murmured, "you don't need to do that."

"Yeah, I know," I told her, but I didn't stop. After I made the bed, I started sorting through the rest of the mess for the books. As I picked them up and replaced them on the shelf - in any old order; K'nsolear could sort them himself later if he wanted, assuming he didn't chuck them all off again - I eventually realized that none of the volumes had been damaged in any way. None of the spines were broken; none of the pages were torn or folded. Somehow he had managed to hurl them all over in such a way that they landed flat on their covers and only flipped open, not over. The precision of it surprised me.

Vindeflei's calm green eyes had watched me the entire time I was cleaning, so when I stopped and stared at a book in my hand for half a minute, she asked, "What's wrong, Roxas?"

"I was just thinking …" I answered slowly. My eyes lifted to the computer again, then shifted to the glass picture frames and the other handful of breakable objects that remained on his dresser, untouched. "The debris is impressive and indicates a major tantrum, but nothing was actually damaged."

The dark-haired girl smiled at me, a soft sadness in her eyes. "He's had practice," she explained.

"Practice?" I echoed, horrified. "You mean he does this often?"

"The V'dnairs are rather famous for their tempers."

I groaned and clunked my head softly against the wall.

"My mother says his father was much worse, if that makes you feel better."

"It doesn't." Sighing, I shelved the book I was currently holding and went back to picking up others. This time when the words came, I didn't bother fighting them. There didn't seem to be a point, really. I always ended up saying them anyway. "So, is there anything I can do to, you know, help?"

"Help?" Vindeflei repeated, confused.

"With this," I elaborated, indicating the mess with a short wave. "Or, I don't know …" I shrugged and let my gaze fall on my roommate again. He looked so tense and guarded, even while sleeping. "… with anything else."

Seeming to understand, Vindeflei rested her cheek against her cousin's head and smiled softly. "I think," she answered, finding my eyes with her own, "that all you need to do to help is keep being yourself, Roxas."

Something in the way she said that eased the uncomfortable worry I had been feeling. Smiling myself, I went back to cleaning up the books. When I was finished, I left the clothes as they were - some things are too personal to bother with - and retreated to my bed to take that nap I had wanted so badly. After the day I had had, I figured I had earned it.


End file.
